After his loss to Spanish fighter Samuel Carmona Heredia, Paddy Barnes divulged it will be his last ever fight at light flyweight.
It is the weight class at which he won bronze medals in both Beijing and London.
At the final bell, Barnes' reserves of energy were completely depleted. The gauge had sunk well into the red. Such was his exhaustion, he was in disbelief at the quantity of punches he actually managed to throw. Those punches really lacked a sting. He was not in the condition which had won him medals at those two previous Olympics and gave him the opportunity to create sporting history by becoming the first Irish to win medals at three consecutive Games.
Speaking to RTÉ, the 29-year-old related the troubles which he experienced in making weight. Just getting to the 49kg mark sapped him of energy.
I shouldn't have been fighting at this weight. It's so hard to get down to it. In the second round I had nothing left. I don't even know how I threw those punches because I had absolutely nothing left to give.
It's always hard for me to make the weight this time because I'm training differently. I went up to 58 kilos and I'm fighting at 49 kilos so I was doubting if I would make the weight. I just made it.
Barnes' issues with making weight have been going on for quite a while. He told the Irish Sun that in qualifying for the Olympics 16 months ago, via the World Series of Boxing, he missed weight.
Actually, qualifying for these, in the World Series of Boxing, I didn’t make the weight. The franchise had to pay a fine because I was over the weight every time so.
It was the day before, the weigh-in , and I still didn’t make the weight so there was a fine paid. In the ring is easy but making the weight behind the scenes is my biggest battle. People don’t understand how hard it is.
The battle with the scales has likely been getting ever harder since April 2014. Barnes just barely made weight this morning. On RTÉ, Bernard Dunne said it was so marginal, Barnes was not far from 'chopping something off' in order to make the 49kg mark.
As it was the weight class in which he qualified, Barnes had to fight at 49kg. Each country can only send one fighter in each weight class. Brendan Irvine steps into the ring this weekend at flyweight (52kg), the division just above Barnes. On Off The Ball, Olympic silver medalist Kenny Egan described Barnes as 'being stuck between a rock and a hard place' in terms of weight - struggling to make 49kg but possibly not big enough for 52kg.
Weight killed me can't fight at 49kg anymore, no energy at all today, 1st time making the weight since 2014. Fair play to Spanish lad!
— Paddy Barnes OLY (@paddyb_ireland) August 8, 2016
In his interview with RTÉ, Barnes mentioned a different training regime. That is due to him fighting in the World Series of Boxing where the format is five three-minute rounds rather than the three rounds at the Olympics. It's actually been two years since Barnes last fought in a competition using the three round format. That was at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where he won gold in the light fly category. Despite having trained with the Olympic format in mind, it is still probably a change which would have affected him.
Another factor which may have led to Barnes' defeat was the style of opponent which he faced. He was originally scheduled to begin his Olympics on Saturday but was given a bye to the last 16.
On RTÉ, Michael Carruth speculated that facing a high volume puncher such as Heredia in his first fight rather than a more technical boxer was to Barnes' detriment.
It's not a fight Paddy needs for his first fight. That's exactly what I said. He's not the kind of fighter we need for Paddy's first fight. We needed a more technical boxer; a guy who would have stood of and tried to box Paddy rather than a little brawler. It wasn't a fight for him to start his championship at.
